The View From Down Here

An Epic Quest Has An Epic Reward

The Midsummer Fire Festival has arrived! In previous years the whole event has been, for me, somewhat of a disappointment. The whole “visit four corners of the globe to touch the flames” with very little in the way of rewards never appealed, though of course I did the easy ones like the faction capitals.

This year, the entire world has changed. Pretty much regardless of which zone you visit, you’ll find somewhere that’s festooned with decorations – even the Defias in Moonbrook have got in on the celebrations. The torch throwing and catching minigames are an enjoyable diversion, at least if you don’t get people deliberately trying to stop you.

The thing that caught my mind the most, though was the fact that the bonfires are spread across all the zones. Keen to get myself a [item]brazier of dancing flames[/item], I set off, and got hooked into a quest the length and breadth of which I haven’t done for ages.

And so I departed Stormwind, heading to each zone and honouring (or desecrating) flames as I went. Several hours later, having visited every zone in the game, including all the Horde faction capitals to steal their flames, I returned with my spoils – 600 or so fire blossoms, some of which I traded in for the brazier, and the real reward – about 600G. I like that. It’s a tidy sum that paid for a few enchants on my offset gear, and, I think, a suitably epic reward for an epic journey across two worlds.

Of course, there are Summer event quests that give real epics – defeat Lord Ahune and get relabelled badge gear – but the colour of an item doesn’t make it epic, the journey does. My Mount Hyjal and Black temple gear feels more “epic” to me than the equivalent ilevel stuff that I’ve bought using piles of [item]badge of justice[/item], and probably rightfully so.